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dogriverWhen I was in my early teens, I used to attend a summer program for blind students put on by our Department of Education (my current employer, as it happens). This program would run two days per week. Because I lived in a rural part of the province, I would take the bus two days a week to Winnipeg, where I would be met by one of the university students hired to run this program.
It was the beginning of a new summer, and I got to the city for the first time that year. As I stepped off the bus, I met the university student responsible for meeting me. "Hi Bruce," he said, "Meet Tracy, a new student. Tracy is partially sighted, and will be leading you around today." It wasn't unusual for a partially-sighted student to lead a totally-blind student around, and it made things easier on the limited number of university students.
Up until then, all the Tracies I'd met had been female. Up until then. This Tracy was younger than I, and his voice hadn't changed yet. So I took Tracy's elbow and he began to lead me to the car. Among other things, I was idly wondering if this girl was worth pursuing. Thankfully, oh so thankfully, I kept my mouth shut.
The destination of the day was Fun Mountain Water Park, one of two major water parks in the Winnipeg area at the time. So we all piled into the car and went out to the park.
We got out, Tracy was still leading me. We went into a building, the university student paid our tuition, and tracy took me into a change room and brought me to a bench. "Okay," he said, "you can change here."
At this point in the proceedings, my mind was racing, since I still thought Tracy was a girl. I understood that I came from a rural, non-progressive part of civilization. But had things progressed to the point of no differentiating between change rooms according to gender? So, not wanting to look more like a hick than i no doubt already did, I shrugged inwardly, changed, and had a great time on the water slides ... enjoying the company of the decidedly female university student with whom I was eventually paired.
I did find out later that afternoon that Tracy was not a girl. Thankfully I found this out in a non-embarrassing way. Tracy and I are friends to this day, and the story always gets a laugh out of both of us.
It was the beginning of a new summer, and I got to the city for the first time that year. As I stepped off the bus, I met the university student responsible for meeting me. "Hi Bruce," he said, "Meet Tracy, a new student. Tracy is partially sighted, and will be leading you around today." It wasn't unusual for a partially-sighted student to lead a totally-blind student around, and it made things easier on the limited number of university students.
Up until then, all the Tracies I'd met had been female. Up until then. This Tracy was younger than I, and his voice hadn't changed yet. So I took Tracy's elbow and he began to lead me to the car. Among other things, I was idly wondering if this girl was worth pursuing. Thankfully, oh so thankfully, I kept my mouth shut.
The destination of the day was Fun Mountain Water Park, one of two major water parks in the Winnipeg area at the time. So we all piled into the car and went out to the park.
We got out, Tracy was still leading me. We went into a building, the university student paid our tuition, and tracy took me into a change room and brought me to a bench. "Okay," he said, "you can change here."
At this point in the proceedings, my mind was racing, since I still thought Tracy was a girl. I understood that I came from a rural, non-progressive part of civilization. But had things progressed to the point of no differentiating between change rooms according to gender? So, not wanting to look more like a hick than i no doubt already did, I shrugged inwardly, changed, and had a great time on the water slides ... enjoying the company of the decidedly female university student with whom I was eventually paired.
I did find out later that afternoon that Tracy was not a girl. Thankfully I found this out in a non-embarrassing way. Tracy and I are friends to this day, and the story always gets a laugh out of both of us.
